Self-styled 'billionaire' single-handedly doubles political parties in state

He calls himself a billionaire. He is a write-in candidate to be Florida's next governor at the same time he's running for U.S. Senate in 2012. He formed a political group for female Roman Catholic priests.

And last year, seven Treasure Coast residents ? four in St. Lucie County, two in Indian River and one in Martin ? wrote his name in during the special state Senate race to replace Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie.

Deerfield Beach resident Josue Larose may be the most interesting man in the world, if you believe the documents he's filed with Florida's Division of Elections and the Federal Election Commission.

Larose's name is well known to state election officials. Within the past 18 months, he has formed 40 new political parties and at least 340 state political action committees with names ranging from the bland ? American Banks Political Action Committee ? to the bizarre ? Billionaire Josue Larose's Dating Women Committee.

Before Larose, there were 31 political parties in Florida. By himself, Larose has more than doubled that number by submitting paperwork to launch such parties as the American Noble Persons Political Party and the American Imperialists Political Party.

Beyond the furious filling-out of forms, Larose seems to have left little ? if any ? mark on the political landscape despite claims in campaign filings that he has personally contributed nearly $7 billion to his political action committees. He also filed paperwork indicating he has raised $18.7 million in his run for governor, including contributions from 20 business owners/CEOs with the last name "Abraham" who share the same two mailing addresses.

Asked for explanations, Larose, 29, sent an e-mail informing the Sun Sentinel that the newspaper did not have permission to write a story about him. He took particular exception to questions on why the Deerfield Beach townhome where he lives is in foreclosure if he is a billionaire.

Florida Division of Elections spokeswoman Jennifer Krell Davis knows one thing for sure about Larose: never has one Floridian deluged her office with so much paperwork.

"Due to the unusual volume involving Mr. Larose's filings, the Division is evaluating the appropriate next steps," wrote Davis in an e-mail.

The Florida Elections Commission, the governmental agency responsible for investigating election infractions, declined to comment on whether Larose is being investigated.

"I don't think anybody has seen anything like this ? the proliferation of political action committees all controlled by one guy," said Mark Herron, a Tallahassee attorney who specializes in election law. "It could be a life's work keeping up with the paperwork."

Within the past three years, he has filed paperwork to run for at least six elected offices, including Florida's governorship.

Larose, who describes himself as a federal lobbyist, businessman, economist and music producer, first caught the Sun Sentinel's attention in June 2009 when he began creating political action committees. He agreed to an interview at that time.

He said he was forming PACs "to give everybody a voice" and that he wanted to devote his life to politics.

In addition to the PACs formed under state law, he's registered 63 federal PACs.

His creation of PACs and political parties by the dozens is legal, election officials say. There's no limit to how many political organizations a single person can form and no filing fee to start them. It's a matter of dealing with the mountain of necessary paperwork, and the periodic reports that then are required.

That's where Larose's ambitions have sometimes run into problems. In August, the Florida Elections Commission closed 27 of Larose's PACs after the groups failed to report financial activity of more than $500 in 2009.

Larose fought the revocations, writing that he had failed to report $800 of in-kind contributions to each of the 27 groups from volunteers.

"Because I have 200 reports to file on this week, I just provided the most important information, but I do not have the time to report the in-kind contributions," he wrote. "I don't want to be late on the reports."

Larose has done minimal advertising for his gubernatorial campaign. He is the sole officially registered write-in candidate running for the office.

Herron said he doesn't think Larose will have any impact on that race. Maverick candidates who try to persuade voters to write their names onto their ballot have had no noticeable success in Florida in years, Herron said.

"We've encountered cases where a write-in candidate doesn't even get a vote," Herron said.

Larose, though, appears to have high hopes for the political parties he's formed. For example, bylaws of the American Bourgeoisie Political Party call for the chairman ? listed as "Economist Josue Larose" ? to have round-the-clock bodyguards and require all employees to "accompany him anywhere he is going."